]]>A Liberal member of the Senate’s internal economy committee alleges political interference in the investigation of Mike Duffy and the Ottawa Citizen has a copy of the pre-edited report on Mr. Duffy’s expenses.

Stephen Harper says he’s “sorry” and “upset” and “extremely angry,” but, in a written statement, Mr. Duffy seems relatively at peace with things.

Yesterday, the Senate referred the issue of my expenses to the Senate Board of Internal Economy.

I welcome this development. Canadians deserve to know all of the facts. I am confident that when they do they will conclude, as Deloitte has already concluded, that my actions regarding expenses do not merit criticism.

I intend to co-operate fully with the Board and with all other authorities. and will have no further public comments until those processes are complete.

The Senate’s conflict of interest committee, meanwhile, releases a statement that suggests the Senate Ethics Officer is now engaged with “matters currently of public interest.”

The Standing Committee on Conflict of Interest for Senators met last evening.

The Committee is exercising its oversight role of the process under the Conflict of Interest Code for Senators. As part of its work, the Committee met with the Senate Ethics Officer. The Committee is satisfied, at this stage, that the Senate Ethics Officer is reviewing matters currently of public interest.

The Committee will await the next steps from the Senate Ethics Officer and will act accordingly as provided by the Code.

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/general/photo-gallery-big-cheeses-gather-in-ottawa/feed/2Senator Fairbairn and public officehttp://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/senator-fairbairn-and-public-office/
http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/senator-fairbairn-and-public-office/#commentsWed, 29 Aug 2012 13:49:27 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=287007Liberal Senator Jim Munson defends Joyce Fairbairn.Munson, the Liberal whip in the Senate, said he has no doubt Fairbairn was able to grasp the content of legislation and understand …

Munson, the Liberal whip in the Senate, said he has no doubt Fairbairn was able to grasp the content of legislation and understand what she was voting on. He takes issue with the suggestion that the party deliberately kept her working to somehow save her spot in the Senate. “From my perspective, with the Conservative majority, one vote would not make a difference, but Senator Fairbairn’s vote made a difference to me,” Munson said. “She was well briefed, ready to vote, and knew what she was doing.”

“Any story like this certainly calls into question, in some people’s minds, the whole role of the Senate and it does impact on the Senate. There is no doubt about it,” 72-year-old LeBreton said in an interview Tuesday … “It does present a constitutional dilemma had there been close votes, for instance, so that troubled me and it troubled me that despite a lot of concern expressed by people on our side for Joyce, that we didn’t hear about this till August,” said LeBreton, who expressed her sadness over the situation facing a woman she has known as respected since 1965.

According to the Star, the Liberals say Senator James Cowan, the Liberal leader in the Senate, learned of the declaration of incompetence on August 13. That would be four months after Senator Cowan’s chief of staff signed a document to make himself an agent on Senator Fairbairn’s behalf and six months after Senator Fairbairn’s psychiatrist signed the declaration of incompetence. According to the Star, “Liberal leadership in the Senate had full confidence in Fairbairn throughout the months that she sat in the upper chamber and voted on legislation.”

Whether Senator Fairbairn’s votes could have been pivotal seems besides the point. The first question is this: Should anyone who has been declared incompetent be voting in the Senate or House of Commons? Maybe it’s difficult to answer that question without getting into the specifics of Ms. Fairbairn’s condition at the time, but maybe this is a discussion that has to be had. It’s not a pleasant discussion, but here we are.

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/general/remembering-mario-lague/feed/0On the runhttp://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/on-the-run-2/
http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/on-the-run-2/#commentsWed, 17 Feb 2010 05:30:41 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=108493Included among the hundreds of films now online from the National Film Board is History on the Run, an entirely fascinating documentary about the media and the 1979 federal election…

]]>Included among the hundreds of films now online from the National Film Board is History on the Run, an entirely fascinating documentary about the media and the 1979 federal election that climaxes with a technical explanation of how best to light Joe Clark’s chin.

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/on-the-run-2/feed/1ITQ on CBC: How twitter and liveblogging won’t just not destroy, but may actually save journalism!http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/itq-on-cbc-how-twitter-and-liveblogging-wont-just-not-destroy-but-may-actually-save-journalism/
http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/itq-on-cbc-how-twitter-and-liveblogging-wont-just-not-destroy-but-may-actually-save-journalism/#commentsTue, 26 May 2009 18:11:37 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=59921No, really. Okay, maybe not twitter — at least, not til there’s a decent, free, non-memory-hogging berryclient that will let you sort and filter and stuff. (Right about now, Colleague…

]]>No, really. Okay, maybe not twitter — at least, not til there’s a decent, free, non-memory-hogging berryclient that will let you sort and filter and stuff. (Right about now, Colleague McGregor’s head is exploding, I can feel the vibrations from here.)

Anyway, if you want to hear your intrepid liveblogger debate Senator Jim Munson on the pros and cons of nearly-realtime journalism, click here for the audio file, courtesy of CBC Ottawa Morning.